PR Visionaries is a remarkable piece of work! It provides you with the techniques and secrets of the best and leading members of the industry, from Ketchum, Porter Novelli, Brodeur Worldwide, and other leading players.

While strong on the strategic side, PR Visionaries is a bit weaker on the tactical side. I don't hold the editors responsible for this, however, as this is not a how-to manual, per se. For the tactical side, I found Guerrilla PR: Wired by Michael Levine to be a more than adequate resource.

PR Visionaries, as the title says, has the giants of the public relations industry tell you how to get noticed, build a brand, develop and protect a reputation, and how to be effective with key opinion-leaders, including the CEO. While it might be overly dramatic to say the book spills their secrets, PR Visionaries covers the various facets on how to successfully manage a powerful public relations campaign on all levels, one that clearly resonates with key stakeholders and publics.

Sarah Phillips allows readers to gain insight into the black middle class, and the rituals and contradictions that the exposure to an integrated society can create. Considering the time frame in which the story is set, it is, at times, disturbing.

The bad news is: Sarah Phillips was ahead of its time when it was published in 1984, and beyond the literary critics who praised Andrea Lee's elegantly unvarnished look at the upper reaches of black society, it did not receive much attention. The good news is: with the post-Waiting-To-Exhale realization by the white publishing world that there is no one black way of life, and that the way of life that appeared in Phillips' luminous book very much exists, Sarah Phillips may now get the attention it deserves.

Far from a catalogue of I-gots that exemplifies some of the newer fiction by African Americans who are glibly portraying a non-ghetto way of life (see--I'm upper class! I have a Rolex! A Mercedes! I wear [designer of your choice here]), Lee's novel goes back to the incestuous world of interconnected black families from the Eastern Seaboard, parts of the South and Midwest, whose hallowed folkways reflect both racial pride and the ironic need to ape their white counterparts a parallel societal world. And whose foibles are as avidly watched and relayed, sotto voce, as any characters' in a nighttime soap opera.

Sarah Phillips explores what happens when post-Civil Rights progeny--children who had to be Ten Times Better Than the whites against whom they compete (and by whom they are judged, usually more harshly) to a wider world where race is noted, but does not serve as the invisible force-field it did for their parents. Sarah, with the confidence of her family history, is able to be both detached from her background and amused by it, even as she keeps it in reserve, if necessary, to shield herself from the glib snobbism of the Europeans among whom she's chosen to live.

Lee does not sugar coat Sarah's wish to be the Only One--the only black person--during her sojurn in Europe. But she makes Sarah three-dimensional enough that the reader understands well enough the urge behind the odd wish to be exotique in a foreign setting.

Readers who are revolted by the current urge of some black writers to trumpet their socially important connections will be refreshed by Lee's chronicle of this snippy, edgy young woman.
This is very much the real thing.

I cannot understand why it is that this brilliant piece of work is virtually unheard of. Andrea Lee's collection of stories about one central figure, Sarah Phillips, is masterful and universal in its exploration of the journey from girlhood to womanhood. These stories approach adolescence with a rare grace and subtlety that deserves a wide audience, one of all races and ages. Please read this book!

The book will deepen your understanding of the movie. The movie, brilliant as it is, plays like a "montage of highlights" and cuts out a lot--as films generally have to do--like what the two heros were doing during the eleven years before they perform one last time. It also ends differently.

(By the way, if you're in the US, unless you've seen the DVD, you've only seen part of the film. The US distributor, Miramax, cut around 20 minutes out of the film as it's seen in the rest of the world, making the already fast pace even faster.)

This book is not at all what I expected. I thought I would learn a little about Chinese drama and music and instead I was able to experience it for myself. I became Dieyi after the first chapter and felt all the pain that he endured. I was able to understand and connect to why he had never learned to tell the difference from fiction and reality. It is worth reading and now I am looking foward to seeing the movie.

It was a really sad story. I feel even more sad after the actor Leslie Cheung(the one who starred Deiyi) commited suicide a couple of days ago. I cried every time I watched the movie. What is really sad about Deiyi is that he could never tell the difference between real life and the life on the stage. So did Leslie Cheung.

Together with Professional C# Web Services, also from Wrox, these books will give you a solid base to really understand Web Services and Remoting. The basics are quite simple but you will also learn some useful advanced topics. I've always liked the Wrox style of writing, I think it's easy to read and follow the code examples. The only criticism is the number of authors. Some smaller parts are repeated and the style is not always consistent.

I read the book several times. I did some of the examples. The examples worked with no changes necessary. On the [web page], the book has an errata list, which is pretty small. The source code for C# and VB are on the wrox website. This book is for EXPERIENCED programmers. Don't even try to read it if you have no prior knowledge of web services.

The book has an excellent introduction to ASP.NET for web services. It probably is worth just going over the first two chapters to get a flavor of web services. Word of caution, I downloaded the VB samples, and they were a bit buggy. If you are a C# developer, the code in the book was fine. The VB code was not...

The first few chapters teach you the basics, most of which I knew already, but it is the later chapters which are really great. The chapter on SOAP security (a subject about which I confess I knew very little) taught me everything I am ever likely to need or want to know about that subject. There's also loads of great examples to get you going. To sum up - it's great!

This is a story about a boy named Lee who is split up from his family when his mother dies, and is placed in a orphanage. Lee and his brother Leo spend two years like slaves in a New York orphange, when they get a chance at better life. They take a train to the West to find better homes. Even though the family is entirely split up, and some die over time, the family members find their way back home.

This book has very interesting facts and an amazing story that is true, but there is a problem. No offense to the author, but the writing is poor. I give it a 1 star. The three is for the story and facts. A five would have to have a good author also. I do recommend it, though. I sped through it because I loved it, but don't get it for the author's writing (which is poor). Get it if you think this topic sounds interesting, and trust me, it is!

I would like to start by saying that I think the suggested reading age is a little low. While the writing is well within in capabilities of most 4-6 graders, the subject may be a little touchy for the younger end of the group. I would be reluctant to let a sensative child read this book until at least the 5th grade.

That said, I think the book was wonderful.The writing is well done for children's non-fiction, but also is able to capture adult readers. The book is a fascinating story about one of the few surviving children who rode one of the orphan trains as well as the general story of the trains history.

My wife, 11 year old daughter and I read the book (my wife and I in 1 evening, my daughter the next) and then we discussed the concept of the trains, the needs for them and why such things are no longer in use in today's society. It made for a good family discussion and we all learned from the experience.

This book has very good content, as well as interesting information about the sociology of this country's past. It was well worth the read for both adults and our daughter and we all enjoyed it.

This book would be an excellent follow-up to the movie "Orphan Train". It brings out the reality of the movement between 1854 and 1930 of 200,000 abandoned children to find homes in the West.

Chapters alternate between historical information on the movement and personal details and memories of orphans like Lee Nailling and his brothers.

The most touching moment for me was when Lee, who had every reason to be bitter and hate the world, finally found a home. Fully intending to run away again before morning, he fell asleep and was awakened by a call to breakfast. As a part of "grace" said before the meal by his mother-to-be, the boy heard, "Father, thank you for sending our new son to us, for the privilege of allowing us to raise him."

Lee commented, "I'm sure my jaw dropped in amazement. Somebody was actually thankful I was there!"

There are also many excellent photographs.

If you can handle the small print, you'll find 3 whole books (not just 3 stories) in this gem. I read Andrea Edwards' "The Magic of Christmas" first. The main characters both have interesting facets to their lives they aren't willing to share with each other which keep your interest past the blurry-eye stage, but I thought it would have benefited from a stronger ending. Next I read "The Pendragon Virus" by Cait London and only wished I'd find a workaholic, successful man who could be wooed by the idea of instant parenthood! This story was an enjoyable read with some steamy sections. My favorite, though, is the first story "An Officer and a Gentleman" by Rachel Lee. Always a pushover for a handsome man in a uniform who dresses like a cowboy in his free time. This was an intriguing story about a woman in the military finding love for the first time and trying to successfully meld her career and personal life. I enjoyed the complexities of the characters and was glued to all 250 pages! Definitely worth the eye strain!

I agree with other posters and found this book to be pretty dull. For some reason I felt I had to finish it, but it wasn't an easy read. I kept adding up how many pages until the end.

I think this book should be retitled "Some Moderately Interesting Women and Some Very Uninteresting Women All of Whom Fit a Personality Template." The author is clearly a worldly, sophisticated, and well-travelled women, but I think she assumes that a worldly person who runs with other worldly people in exotic locales is somehow inherently "interesting." Unfortunately, she mainly presents us with numerous examples of the "expat bore."

I think she has a tin ear for dialogue, yet she does a capable job of evoking a sense of place, and her most believable characters are the ones that I assume are largely autobiographical: the recently divorced and remarried expat American woman in Italy who is dealing with her children, her race, their new stepfather, and the echoes of her previously directionless, dissolute, yet financially comfortable life. The worst story is where the author attempts to render her pre-teen daughter in first person. The story sounds like a mother trying to imagine what her daughter thinks about, yet projects both her voice and her concerns upon the daughter. It's just awful. I was led to this collection of short stories by Lee's story in the New Yorker "The Prior's Room." In this story, Lee actually gives us an interesting woman, and the New Yorker story is far superior to anything in this collection. I recommend the New Yorker story, but not these stories.

I read a wonderful review of this book in the New York Times, bought it and had it on my shelf when a good friend told me I HAD to read it. Once I started, I couldn't put it down! The stories are about everything I find relevant and interesting: relationships between men and women, and between women and women, the dynamics of race, and travel and life in other countries. Isn't this what life is about? Well it is for educated, mixed-race women who enjoy and appreciate travel and living overseas, and who are or were married.
I am looking forward to Andrea Lee's next book with eager anticipation!

For the first time, I prefer the translated version of a book over the original. The original is packed with clichés, making it unbearable. Somehow the translation was able to breath some freshness into this otherwise uninspired piece, but nothing can save it from its superficial characters. Amongst the contemporary novelists of Hong Kong, Lillian Lee no doubt is, and deservingly so, the most well received writer by both the critics and readers in general, but even her work suffers from the same ailment as other novels from Hong Kong: The lack of originality. Each book reads exactly the same as any other book by the same author. There's hardly any variation in either style or technique. This is one of those books that are mildly entertaining but quickly forgotten after you turn the last page.

I'm a first time reader of Lillian Lee, and I'm already a fan. The book is very well written, especially in the latter part of the book. But maybe it's just the (almost)true story of this used-to-be innocent girl that's touching me. A good read.

Having lived in Post-Soviet Russia for three years, I picked up Andrea Lee's book with the interest of a wanderer who has found a kindred spirit, someone with whom to compare stories of a similar fish-out-of-water experience. Upon first reading, the differences between our Russias were immediately apparent: Lee's year in Moscow and St. Petersburg was back in the Soviet days, and her life there was more closely regulated and contrived, partially due to the constraints put upon her, both real and imagined, by the Soviet authorities, and partially due to the nature of her visit, seemingly a study-abroad trip taken by her russophile husband with her in tow. Her experiences were thus limited to the State-allowed tourist sites, the geographical and cultural limitations of her two cities of residency, and her own brief explorations.
She and I were both struck during our time by the warmth of the Russian people to foreigeners, and the curiosity of meeting and talking with a "real American." However, her descriptions of her surroundings, the people she meets, and her overall experience are tainted by her own cultural arrogance. At least once in every chapter, she spoils the reader's enjoyment of her impressions with a subtle and perfectly placed insult to the cultural, artistic, or aesthetic sensibilities of the Russian People, if not merely their personal habits. The dormitory in Moscow where she makes her home is "vulgar." A friend eats "greedily, bending over her plate, mumbling through her food." Another friend's hat offends her fashion-conscious eye, and is dismissed as "absurd." Even St. Basil's Cathedral, the 15th-century Byzantine-influenced church standing in Red Square as the very symbol of Russia, cannot escape her critical and self-absorbed judgement: she pronounces it "preposterous."
Lee has a gift for descriptive writing, an ability to bring the reader, through her tastes, smells and sights, right there beside her on the Moscow Metro, in the steambaths, or the home of a Soviet journalist. Unfortunately, her impressive talents are invariable used to convey (perhaps unintendedly) her overall disdain with everything that makes Russia (and the Russian people) truly Russia; indeed, everything not American. Like poorly made borsch, her effort leaves the reader with a bad taste in the mouth.

I picked up this book without great expectations. I was merely doing an assignment for English class, but I found the book to be delightful and interesting. I couldn't seem to put it down, and when I finished, I recounted how much I learned. The descriptions of Ms. Lee's surroundings were detailed so one could easily picture the architecture in one's mind. The descriptions of Russian citizens are most intriguing because of Ms. Lee's opportunity to become close friends, not acquaintences with them. All in all, a good read that teaches a lot.

This was an unexpected gem. Russian Journal is a great read for people who love to travel or who don't travel but want to. It was less a journal and more a love letter to the people of Russia that the author met in the late 1970s. I easily could picture the harsh architecture and the warm people, what a startling contrast! I began the book wondering about Andrea's experiences (will she encounter the KGB? etc.) and by the end I was curious about her friends and wanting to go there myself. I am actually leaving in 15 months for a year long stay.

This book is poorly written and unedited. It is riddled with grammatical errors; the captions for the illustrations and samples are misleading; often the text that can't be distinguished from illustrations because of inconsistent use of fonts and dividing rules.

When one of the authors tried to discuss the difference between the executive, judiciary and legislative branches of the federal government, she forgot to describe the executive or perhaps didn't know what the president's function is.

One of the authors thinks that Black's is a common law dictionary. Perhaps she meant commonly used? No attorney would tolerate a paralegal or legal assistant with such poor communication skills as these authors possess; yet the book is supposed to teach the prospective paralegal to communicate in a legal environment.

Although the Legal Research and Writing Handbook is geared for paralegals, it is a valuable guide for attorneys as well. The authors guide readers through each step necessary to use a research tool. In addition, readers learn how to integrate various research methods to perform comprehensive searches of legal materials. The writing portion of the book also provides a step by step approach to drafting documents. It is an excellent resource for all legal researchers and writers.